Portugal´s national debt again has risen, reaching 134% of GDP at the end of June, an increase of 1.6% in the quarter from March.
According to data from the Bank of Portugal´s Statistical Bulletin, public debt in March was 132.4%, which in real money is €220 billion. At the end of the first half to the end of June this had risen to €223 billion.
Former Finance Minister Miguel Cadilhe today spared no criticism of the total failure of supervision, considering that the Bank of Portugal has learnt nothing from the BPN collapse and bailout which exposed the taxpayer to multi-billion euro shock, seeing the bank flogged off in 2011 to the Angolans for just €40 million.
"They do not learn from their mistakes," said the economist, adding that the Espirito Santo collapse has discredited the elites in the country, "Portugal is in mourning with this thing. The Portuguese elites, political, corporate and institutional, are all called into question."
Cadilhe said that with proper supervision, action would have been taken earlier in the BES scandal and had information been made public earlier, the capital injection by the Bank of Portugal would never have been approved, "I do not give the benefit of doubt to the Bank of Portugal."
The national debt target for the year end, according to the rose tinted glasses of the Finance Ministry, is 130.2% but the trend is an upward one with the figure growing €9.6 billion since the beginning of the year with any impact from the BES bailout not yet reflected in the national figures.
The government says that the BES bailout money used to recapitalise Novo Banco will not affect the value of the public debt as the €3.9 billion injected into Novo Banco already has been included in the financial cushion that the government has accumulated to support the country´s exit from the adjustment programme.
However the accountants choose play with the figures, the 2014 target in unlikely to be hit which may hinder Portugal´s improving credit ranking.
